As Terry and Debbi Elvis eagerly awaited their daughter Heather’s return for Christmas, an unexpected knock on the door from a police officer shattered the quiet anticipation.
The officer’s inquiry about a Dodge Intrepid, as recounted by Debbi during an episode on August 16 of Oxygen’s Snapped, hinted at something amiss. “I said, ‘That’s my daughter’s car,’” Debbi recalled with a tremor of worry in her voice.
The car of the missing 20-year-old had been found abandoned at an eerie 4 a.m. at a public boat landing in Socastee, South Carolina, just a short drive from her family’s residence. With unanswered phone calls and no sign of Heather, authorities launched a missing persons investigation.
This was entirely out of character for Heather, a fact that deepened the concern.
Her dedication to her role at the Tilted Kilt pub was evident, and she had ambitions in the world of cosmetology, aiming to earn her license while excitedly looking forward to a new job at a beauty salon. She dreamt of the bright lights on Broadway, a testament to her aspirations.
Heather was destined to be, as Terry put it, “an unstoppable force.”
Heather Elvis’ Secret Affair with Sidney Moorer Comes to Light
As police retraced Heather’s last steps in Dec. 2013, they learned she had spent the previous evening on a date with a man who then dropped her off at home around 1:15 a.m.
Roommate Brianna Warrelmann told police that Heather had called her twice after the date—once to rave about the evening and again minutes later, sounding completely different.
“Heather was now very upset, very emotional,” Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson told Snapped. “What has changed from 1:30 a.m. to 1:44 a.m.?”
It was a phone call from Heather’s ex-boyfriend Sidney Moorer, a married man who had recently ended their affair.
“Heather was crushed,” said Horry County Assistant Solicitor Nancy Livesay. “She had, clearly, deep feelings for Sidney at the time, so it was very hard for her.”
According to Brianna, Sidney called because he wanted to leave his wife Tammy Moorer and be with Heather. She only answered the call, said Brianna, because it came from an unfamiliar number.
Police reviewed Heather’s cell phone records and found numerous calls and texts from Sidney’s phone, along with a few outgoing calls to a second unknown number, which they later traced to a gas station payphone.
But Sidney told police that he wasn’t interested in Heather.
He said he was trying to mend his marriage after Tammy discovered the affair, but that Heather had called to rekindle their relationship. Sidney said he put the call on speakerphone so Tammy could hear him tell Heather that he was happily married.
According to Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, “Sidney says, ‘I haven’t even had my phone…my wife took my phone as soon as she found out about the affair.”
When police examined local surveillance footage, they found two important clues from the night Heather disappeared.
A man had used the gas station payphone around the same time a call was placed to Heather, while a black pickup truck drove from the direction of the Moorers’ home toward the boat landing. As it turned out, Sidney owned the same type of truck.
Police questioned Sidney again—this time, as a suspect—and he had a new story.
According to Sidney, he and Tammy were out that night buying a pregnancy test at Walmart, as they were trying for a baby. Sidney said they stopped at the gas station to call Heather.
“I asked her to please leave me alone,” he told police.“She had been leaving notes on our car.”
After the call, he said they went home.
According to Sidney, it would have been impossible for him to leave again that night—because he was handcuffed to his bed.
Sidney Moorer and Tammy Moorer Charged in Heather Elvis’ Disappearance
“This is weird,” Sidney told investigators. “Don’t go looking at me like I’m crazy or she’s crazy. The trust issue is big. So, when we go to sleep, I’m handcuffed to the bed.”
Sidney said only Tammy had the key.
“Once that came out, you really then knew what that affair had done to Tammy Moorer,” said Livesay. “It had completely changed her life.”
But Tammy didn’t appear to be a scorned wife.
“I had boyfriends,” Tammy later told investigators. “We had an open marriage…I’m not traditional.”
That seemed like a contradiction.
“It cannot be both,” said Livesay. “It cannot be that we have an open marriage and I’m chaining him to the bed and taking his phone. So we knew something was amiss.”
Heather’s co-worker Jodi Davenport recalled hearing rumors that Tammy had forced Sidney to break up with Heather, right before Heather received a stream of threatening text messages from Sidney’s phone.
“The texts became very explicit,” Jodi told Snapped. “Eventually it progressed to sending pictures of Tammy and Sydney in sexual positions. It was absolutely awful.”
According to Jodi, Heather had taken a pregnancy test, but the result read as an error. Heather did not want to be pregnant, said Jodi, and she was worried about her safety.
Then, investigators looked at GPS data which showed Tammy’s and Sidney’s phones moving alongside Heather’s phone.
“We know that Tammy has both phones,” explained Livesay. “So, there’s no doubt that Tammy is the one watching and following this young woman.”
When police executed a search warrant at Sidney and Tammy’s home, security footage showed the couple washing their pickup truck, before burning the rags.
As retired Horry County Detective Lt. Peter Cestare recalled, “It looked as if someone was trying to remove DNA evidence from inside that vehicle.”
What Happened to Sidney Moorer and Tammy Moorer?
Sidney and Tammy were arrested in Feb. 2014 and charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Both pleaded not guilty. Murder charges soon followed, but without evidence of Heather’s death, they were ultimately dismissed.
“That’s not to say you can’t pursue a case for murder without a body,” Cestare said, “but what can we prove?”
The couple were tried separately. Prosecutors believed that Sidney had called Heather from the payphone to lure her to the boat landing.
“There was no way that Heather would have come out to meet Tammy Moorer,” said Livesay. “So basically, Tammy used Sidney as the bait to get Heather.”
Sidney’s 2016 trial resulted in a hung jury. He was retried in 2019 and convicted of both charges. Tammy went on trial in 2018 and was also found guilty.
Both were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Heather remains missing.